With De La Rosa down, Rockies need Cook

Posted on: May 24, 2011 8:45 pm

Edited on: May 24, 2011 9:06 pm

By Matt Snyder

With the news that the Rockies have probably lost Jorge De La Rosa for the rest of the season, their playoff hopes took a huge blow. It's still definitely possible, of course, as he's only one starting pitcher. It's just that losing a left-handed starter with his quality stuff (5-2, 3.34 ERA with 49 strikeouts entering Tuesday afternoon) is a big deal. Ubaldo Jimenez, Jhoulys Chacin and Jason Hammel are now firmly entrenched as the Rockies' top three starters, while Clayton Mortensen has filled in admirably for the injured Esmil Rogers. It's possible the Rockies have their five whenever Rogers comes back -- or Greg Reynolds could fill the role -- but what about the nearly forgotten Aaron Cook?

Cook, 32, is on the 60-day disabled list with a broken ring finger on his pitching hand. But he's close to being back -- eligible to come off the DL May 30 -- and has made three rehab starts. His most recent came Monday, when he coughed up four runs in five innings while striking out six. In all, he has a 5.79 ERA in the three outings, though we shouldn't put a ton of stock in the numbers of rehab outings. A lot of times the pitcher is just working himself into game shape without being overly concerned with the result -- like spring training.

Cook does have the pedigree of a guy who could step in and step up for his team. He was an All-Star in 2008, when he was 16-9 with a 3.96 ERA and worked 211 1/3 innings. When he's healthy, he's a bit of a workhorse in that he can pitch deep into games. He's averaged 6 1/3 innings per start since 2005, for example.

On the other hand, Cook has always allowed too many baserunners (1.45 career WHIP) and was largely ineffective in 2010 (5.08 ERA). He's a sore spot for many Rockies fans, due to those two numbers in addition to his nearly $10 million salary for this season. There's a mutual option for 2012, which means unless Cook steps up in a big way from here on out, he's a free agent once the season ends.

It's time for Cook to start earning that hefty paycheck. The Rockies need a rotational reinforcement immediately. Cook needs to be the guy -- for Colorado's sake and for his own.

Post Deleted by Administrator

With De La Rosa down, Rockies need Cook

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Since: May 25, 2011

Posted on: May 27, 2011 7:12 pm

With De La Rosa down, Rockies need Cook

As a long time fan It's hard to hate "Cookie", but reading that didn't exactly make me jump up and down. 5.79 in the minors, holy smokes.

Since: Oct 26, 2007

Posted on: May 25, 2011 12:50 am

With De La Rosa down, Rockies need Cook

I hate losing pitchers with quality stuff and DLR has been effective this year- until recently more so than Ubaldo who is finally getting it together. DLR has been more productive in winning games but there will be no more games for him to win probably for the next year. I wish we had another Ubaldo Junior waiting to come up ala Jhoulys Chacin but it doesn't seem like one is ready and that means we might have to go back to the past in Aaron Cook. At one time Aaron Cook was a very good pitcher but not lately and he seems to string injuries together. If he could come back and be anywhere near who he used to be and avoid any new injuries for a few months it might not be so horrible.

Since: Oct 12, 2008

Posted on: May 25, 2011 12:07 am

With De La Rosa down, Rockies need Cook

Nooooo!!!!!!!!!! Not Cook! **************!!!!!

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